Sisters Lamees and Widaad Albertus have become a force to be reckoned within the theatre industry. Currently working at The Fugard Theatre, Lamees holds the position of Theatre Manager and Associate Producer while Widaad not only holds the title of Wardrobe Supervisor and Production Assistant, but is currently also juggling the task of working as lead Costume Designer on several of the Fugard Theatre’s most anticipated upcoming shows including The Demon Bride and Significant Other. While most of their work tends to happen behind the scenes and away from the spotlight, Lamees recently had her work recognised by being featured in the Mail & Guardian’s 2017 Book of South African Women: On the Shoulders of Giants.
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Tag: Theater
A Conversation with Sara Matchett
Sara Matchett is a director, theatre-maker and lecturer. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town where she currently resides as a senior lecturer in the Department of Drama. As co-founder and Artistic Director of The MotherTongue Project, a women’s arts collective, Sara has experience in the field of theatre in South Africa, Singapore, India, Kenya and Indonesia as a theatre-maker, performer, director and facilitator. Her latest directorial endeavor, Womb of Fire, which reunites her with her “soul collaborator” and fellow MotherTongue Project co-founder, Rehane Abrahams, is now playing at the Baxter Theatre. Continue reading
A Conversation with Diaan Lawrenson
For 13 years, actress and producer Diaan Lawrenson charmed South African audiences by starring on 7de Laan. Since leaving the series, she has gone on to star in critically acclaimed films such as Raaiselkind, Sink and her latest film Susters which is now playing in select theatres. An accomplished theatre actress, she is also the co-founder of Jester Productions, a multimedia production company that she founded alongside her husband, and fellow actor, Jody Abrahams, which focuses on facilitating, developing and producing original South African concepts. Continue reading
A Conversation with Genna Gardini
Genna Gardini is a writer and teacher. She is the author of Matric Rage, which was published in 2014 by uHlanga Press. In 2012, she was awarded the DALRO New Coin Poetry prize and was chosen as one of the Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans for 2013. She is also the co-founder of Horses’ Heads Productions and has had several of her plays produced at the National Arts Festival including WinterSweet and Scrape, both of which went on to win Standard Bank Ovation Awards. In addition, she also works as the poetry editor of Prufrock Magazine, a journal in which her own work has featured.
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A Conversation with Louisa Talbot
Choreographer and dancer Louisa Talbot became a soloist in the Cape Dance Company at the age of 13, specialising in contemporary and classical dance. She became a member of Jazzart Dance Theatre and went on to freelance for Free Flight Dance Company and Bovim Ballet. In 2004, Louisa started her musical theatre career with the musical Show Boat. She began choreographing musicals for The Fugard Theatre in 2013 and went on to be nominated for a Best Choreography Naledi Theatre Award for The Rocky Horror Show. Other theatre choreography credits include Cabaret, Funny Girl and West Side Story which is currently running at Artscape in its return Cape Town season. Continue reading
A Conversation with Melanie Burke
Melanie Burke is the chairman of the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards. Originally based in the corporate world, Melanie was appointed to her position six years ago. She serves on the board of many NGO’s but it’s the Fleur du Cap’s that have broken her “three-year volunteering rule.” A fierce and formidable presence in the theatre industry, we sat down with Melanie at the Baxter Theatre, the upcoming venue of the 53rd annual Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, to discuss her journey as chairman of South Africa’s most coveted theatre award. For a list of the nominees, please click here.
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A Conversation with Jo da Silva
For the last 25 years, Jo da Silva has had an extensive career in TV, film, radio and theatre. After a decade long hiatus from theatre, she makes her much-anticipated return to the stage juggling two roles in Noël Coward’s Present Laughter presented at Theatre on the Bay before jumping into Fatal Attraction which will play Theatre on the Bay and Pieter Toerien’s Monte Casino Theatre in Johannesburg. We sat down with her to chat about the show, her career and surving portraying the “most hated woman in the history of South African television.” Continue reading
A Conversation with Sihle Ndaba
Triple threat, Sihle Ndaba is well-known to South African audiences for her award-winning role as ‘Smangele Maphumulo’ in SABC 1’s hit primetime soap Uzalo, for which she won the Simon Sabela Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015. She is currently making a return to her musical theatre roots by starring as ‘Petal’ in The Fugard Theatre’s return season of King Kong. We sat down with her to chat about joining the illustrious company and navigating the fame that comes along with starring on South African television.
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A Conversation with Lesedi Job
Lesedi Job is an actress and director. Lesedi made her directorial debut in 2017 with Mike van Graan’s When Swallows Cry at the Market Theatre and went on to win the Sophie Mgcina Emerging Voice Award. The production, which has transferred to Cape Town, is currently running at the Baxter Theatre. An accomplished performer in her own right, Lesedi received a Naledi Theatre Award nomination for her role in Lara Foot’s Fishers of Hope. Continue reading
A Conversation with Daneel van der Walt and Alicia McCormick
For months Cape Town has been buzzing about the upcoming historic all-women production of The Taming of the Shrew, which is set to take the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre by storm. Fierce and formidable theatre veterans, Daneel van der Walt and Alicia McCormick have been tapped to lead the company by playing sparring partners Petruchio and Kate, respectively. We sat down with them to chat about the history-making production, debuting at Maynardville and the importance of working with women.
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